The West

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

The West: Encounters & Transformations takes a new approach to telling the story of Western Civilization. Rather than looking at Western Civilization only as the history of Europe from ancient times to the present, this groundbreaking book examines the changing nature of the West–how the definition of the West has evolved and transformed throughout history.

The text presents a balanced treatment of political, social, religious, and cultural history and emphasizes the ever-shifting boundaries of the geographic and cultural realm of the West. Overview of Western Civilization. Readers interested in the history and development of Western Civilization.

Table of Contents

Volume I includes Chapters 1-16, Volume II includes Chapters 14-28, Volume A includes Chapters 1-11, Volume B includes Chapters 10-19, and Volume C includes Chapters 19-28.

“What Is the West?”

The Shifting Borders of the West.

Asking the Right Questions.

1. The Beginnings of Civilizations, 10,000-2000 BCE.

Culture, Agriculture, and Civilization.

The Birth of Civilization in Southwest Asia.

The Emergence of Egyptian Civilizations.

The Transformation of Europe.

Conclusion: Civilization and the West.

Justice in History: Gods and Kings in Mesopotamian Justice.

2. The International Bronze Age and its Aftermath: Trade, Empire, and Diplomacy, 1600-550 BCE.

Civilization of the Nile: The Egyptian Empire.

Civilizations of Anatolia and Mesopotamia: The Hittite, Assyrian, and Babylonian Empires.

The Civilizations of the Mediterranean: TheMinoans and the Mycenaeans.

The End of the International Bronze Age and its Aftermath.

Conclusion: The International Bronze Age and the Emergence of the West.

Justice in History: Egyptian Tomb Robbers on Trial.

3. Persians, Hebrews, and Greeks: The Foundations of Western Culture, 1100-336 BCE.

Persia: An Empire on Three Continents.

Hebrew Civilization and Religions.

Greece Rebuilds, 1100-479 BCE.

The Classical Age of Greece, 479-336 BCE.

Conclusions: Classical Foundations of the West.

Justice in History: The Trial and Execution of Socrates the Questioner.

Encounters and Transformations: The Alphabet and Writing in Greece

4. The Hellenistic World and the Roman Republic, 336-31 BCE.

The Warlike Kingdom of Macedon.

Hellenistic Society and Culture.

Rome's Rise to Power.

Beginnings of the Roman Revolution.

Conclusion: Defining the West in the Hellenistic Age.

Justice in History: A Corrupt Roman Governor Is Convicted of Extortion.

The Human Body in History: Aphrodite of Melos: The Hellenistic Portrayal of the Perfect Female.

5. Enclosing the West: The Early Roman Empire and Its Neighbors: 31 BCE-235 CE.

The Imperial Center.

Life in the Roman Provinces: Assimilation, Resistance and Romanization.

The Frontier and Beyond.

Society and Culture in an Imperial Age.

Conclusion: Rome Shapes the West.

Justice in History: The Trial of Jesus in Historical Perspective.

Encounters and Transformations: The Roman City: Agents of Cultural Transformation.

6. Late Antiquity: The Age of New Boundaries, 250-600.

Crisis and Recovery in the Third Century.

Christianizing the Empire.

New Christian Communities and Identities.

The Break-Up of the Roman Empire.

Conclusion: The Age of New Boundaries.

Justice in History: Two Martyrdoms: Culture and Religion on Trial.

The Human Body in History: The Ascetic Alternative.

7. Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam.

Byzantium: The Survival of the Roman Empire.

The New World of Islam.

Conclusion: Three Cultural Realms.

Justice in History: “Judgment Belongs to God Alone”: The Battle and Arbitration at Siffin.

Encounters and Transformations: Ships of the Desert: Camels from Morocco to Central Asia.

8. Medieval Empires and Borderlands: The Latin West.

The Birth of Latin Christendom.

The Carolingians.

Invasions and Recovery in the Latin West.

The West in the East: The Crusades.

Conclusion: An Emerging Unity in the Latin West.

Justice in History: Revealing the Truth: Oaths and Ordeals.

Encounters and Transformations: Roland the El Cid.

9. Medieval Civilization: The Rise of Western Europe.

Two Worlds: Manors and Cities.

The Consolidation of Roman Catholicism.

Strengthening the Center of the West.

Medieval Culture: The Search for Understanding.

Conclusion: Asserting Western Culture.

Justice in History: Inquiring into Heresy: The Inquisition of Montaillou.

The Human Body in History: A Tale of Two Marys.

10. The Medieval West in Crisis.

A Time of Death.

A Cold Wind from the East.

Economic Depression and Social Turmoil.

An Age of Warfare.

A Troubled Church and the Demand for Religious Comfort.

The Culture of Loss.

Conclusion: Looking Inward.

Justice in History: The Trial of Joan of Arc.

The Human Body in History: The Black Death: The Signs of Disease.

11. The Italian Renaissance and Beyond: The Politics of Culture.

The Cradle of the Renaissance: The Italian City-States.

The Influence of Ancient Culture.

Antiquity and Nature in the Arts.

The Early Modern European State System.

Conclusion: The Politics of Culture.

Justice in History: Revenge as Private Justice.

The Human Body in History: The Natural and the Ideal Body in Renaissance Art.

12. The West and the World: The Significance of Global Encounters, 1450-1650.

Europeans in Africa.

Europeans in the Americas.

Europeans in Asia.

The Beginnings of the Global System.

Conclusion: The Significance of the Global Encounters.

Justice in History: The Difficulties of a Transatlantic Marriage.

Encounters and Transformations: Between Indian and Christian: Creating Hybrid Religion in Mexico.

13. The Reformation of Religion.

Causes of the Reformation.

The Lutheran Reformation.

The Diversity of Protestantism.

The Catholic Reformation.

The Reformation of the Arts.

Conclusion: Competing Understandings.

Justice in History: The Trial of Anne Boleyn: The Dynastic Crime.

The Human Body in History: The Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila: The Body and the Soul.

14. The Age of Confessional Division.

The Peoples of Early Modern Europe.

Disciplining the People.

The Confessional States.

States and Confessions in Eastern Europe.

Conclusion: The Divisions of the West.

Justice in History: The Spanish Auto da Fe: The Power of Penance.

Encounters and Transformations: The Introduction of the Table Fork: The New Sign of Western Civilization.

15. Absolutism and State-Building in Europe, 1618-1715.

The Nature of Absolutism.

The Absolutist State in France and Spain.

Absolutism and State Building in Central and Eastern Europe.

Resistance to Absolutism in England and the Dutch Republic.

Conclusion: The Western State in the Age of Absolutism.

Justice in History: The Trial of Charles I.

Encounters and Transformations: St. Petersburg and the West.

16. The Scientific Revolution.

The Discoveries and Achievements of the Scientific Revolution.

The Search for Scientific Knowledge.

The Causes of the Scientific Revolution.

The Intellectual Effects of the Scientific Revolution.

Humans and the Natural World.

Conclusion: Science and Western Culture.

Justice in History: The Trial of Galileo.

The Human Body in History: Dissecting the Human Corpse.

17. The West and the World: Empire, Trade and War, 1650-1815.

European Empires in Americas and Asia.

Warfare in Europe, North America, and Asia.

The Atlantic World.

Encounters between Europeans and Asians.

The Crisis of Empire and the Atlantic Revolutions.

Conclusion: The Rise and Reshaping of the West.

Justice in History: The Trial of the Mutineers on the Bounty.

Encounters and Transformations: Chocolate in the New World and the Old.

18. Eighteenth-Century Society and Culture.

The Aristocracy.

Challenges to Aristocratic Dominance.

The Enlightenment.

The Impact of the Enlightenment.

Conclusion: The Enlightenment and Western Identity.

Justice in History: A Case of Infanticide in the Age of the Enlightenment.

The Human Body in History: Bathing in the West.

19. The Age of the French Revolution, 1789-1815.

The First French Revolution 1789-1791.

The French Republic, 1792-1799.

Cultural Change in France During the Revolution.

The Napoleonic Era, 1799-1815.

The Legacy of the French Revolution.

Conclusion: The French Revolution and Western Civilization.

Justice in History: The Trial of Louis XVI.

Encounters and Transformations: The French Encounter the Egyptians, 1798-1801.

20. The Industrial Revolution.

The Nature of the Industrial Revolution.

Conditions Favoring Industrial Growth.

The Spread of Industrialization.

The Effects of Industrialization.

Industry, Trade and Empire.

Conclusion: Industrialization and the West.

Justice in History: The Sadler Committee on Child Labor.

Encounters and Transformations: The Peterloo Massacre 1819

21. Ideological Conflicts and National Unification, 1815-1871.

New Ideologies in the Early Nineteenth Century.

Ideological Encounters in Europe, 1815-1848.

National Unification in Europe and America, 1848-1871.

Ideology, Empire, and the Balance of Power.

Conclusion: The Ideological Transformation in the West.

Justice in History: Prostitution, Corporal Punishment, and Liberalism in Germany.

The Human Body in History: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The Body in Romantic Literature.